Your calls to lawmakers matter!  And the more we know about how your phone call goes, the better we can lobby State Representatives and Senators in Lansing to stop the latest attack on school employee pensions (SB 401 and HB 4647)!

Please take a moment to call your lawmaker today AND report back to us on how the call goes:

Step 1 - Prepare for your call -- refer below for talking points and tips.

Step 2 - Call your lawmaker using the following toll-free numbers provided by the Coalition for Secure Retirement -- just enter your zip code and you'll be patched through to the appropriate office.  

• To call your State Representative, dial 866-834-6910.
  
• To call your State Senator, dial 855-721-3304.

Step 3 - Fill out the form on the right to let us know how the conversation went -- please provide information about what you said to them and what they said in response, including any concrete positions they took on the issue.

(If you would rather email your lawmakers, click here.)

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TALKING POINTS:

REMEMBER: Keep your conversation polite and professional.  Many lawmakers are still undecided on this bill and we can sway them to our side if we do so in a civil and constructive manner.

CORE MESSAGES:

This complicated new legislation would increase financial risk for new hires without doing anything to improve the funding and stability of the current retirement system. It is a plan designed to fail, which would cost students, schools and taxpayers billions down the line.  

Please oppose SB 401/HB 4647 and urge other lawmakers to slow down and carefully consider what this legislation would mean for students, school employees, and the state.

What problem is this plan trying to solve?

The new versions of SB 401/HB 4647:

•       Do nothing to address current unfunded liability of $29 billion (but in fact, could make this worse).

•       Do nothing to increase stability of current hybrid system.

•       Has no cap on how much an individual (or district) might have to pay if the new hybrid fund becomes underfunded, and offers no transition time to prepare for this additional cost.

•       Will further stretch the School Aid Fund and local school district budgets by increasing the 401k costs and forcing districts to pick up half of any unfunded new hybrid plan liability.

•       Allow retirement age to change repeatedly at the whim of the MPSERS Board.

•       Provides no retirement credit during parental leave.

Did you know?

·       There is a law that requires the Legislature to have an actuarial report for 7 days before making this decision (PA 728 of 2002). Receiving and analyzing this information is essential before making this decision.

·       Despite promises that these pension changes wouldn’t impact current employees, the bill prevents current employees from purchasing retirement credit?

·       If the hybrid becomes over funded, the money goes to the pension system’s overall unfunded liability, instead of providing a cushion for the hybrid fund to prevent future under funding.